CF Montreal apologizes to Pauline Marois
CF Montreal President Gabriel Gervais.
CF Montreal President Gabriel Gervais has apologized to Pauline Marois, members of the Parti Québécois and Quebecers who were hurt and shocked by the decision to hire Sandro Grande as coach. He also apologized to the various political parties and partners of CF Montreal.
“The hiring had been made in good faith”, he explains, while judging that it was “a mistake”. Their judgment “was clouded by their willingness to give Grande a second chance.” Gabriel Gervais takes personal responsibility for this. The decision had been discussed as a team, but accepted unanimously. The owner of the team, Joey Saputo, was also aware of the choice of coach.
“We were aware of the unacceptable acts”, specifies the president of CF Montreal, who explains that he made the choice to take it based on “his later years, the good things he did and the maturity he gained.”
We do not encourage violence, hateful gestures, far from it, but we were still aware of his somewhat troubled past.
Garbiel Gervais, President of CF Montreal
The reflection surrounding Grande's firing began when the team saw disgruntled fans.
He says he started the reflection after seeing the discontent among the team’s supporters; “We still expected to have people unhappy, but not on the scale of what we saw last night.” Discussions with sponsors also played into the balance, he says.
Recall that Sandro Grande had endorsed the shooter of the Metropolis attack, during the hours following the murder of Denis Blanchette, in 2012. “The only mistake the shooter made last night was missing his target! Marois! Next time dude! I hope!”, he wrote in a tweet, removed in the following hours.
In the political sphere, the decision was strongly criticized by the majority of the political class on Twitter. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon of the Parti Québécois, who started the ball rolling, called the decision “unacceptable.” François Legault, meanwhile, described the coach's choice as a “lack of respect”. Representatives of Quebec Solidaire and the Liberal Party of Quebec also condemned the decision.
Patrick Violat will replace Sandro Grande as team coach.
